Jerusalem – Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s latest brain scan Saturday showed a slight easing of swelling, but he remained in critical condition with his life in danger, a hospital official said.

In his first briefing on the prime minister’s condition in more than 24 hours, Hadassah Hospital director Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said Sharon’s vital signs were stable. Doctors reported today that there had been no change in his condition overnight.

Doctors will decide today when to lift Sharon’s induced coma, meant to give his brain time to heal, to examine the extent of his neurological damage, Mor-Yosef said.

“First we have to stabilize the situation and fight for the life of the prime minister,” Mor-Yosef said. “Then we will be able to evaluate the different neurological findings.” Asked whether Sharon’s life could be saved, he replied, “We believe it’s possible.”

Channel 2 TV quoted one of Sharon’s surgeons as saying the prime minister probably will suffer some cognitive impairment.

The station quoted Dr. Jose Cohen as saying he was “quite optimistic” about Sharon’s chances of survival but “to say after such a severe trauma as this that there will be no cognitive problems is simply not to recognize reality.”

Cohen did not appear on camera, and the station ran a transcript of his comments on the air.

Mor-Yosef said that after waking Sharon out of his coma, doctors will be “looking for some sort of response. If there is no response, that would be bad news.”

Sharon was admitted to the hospital Wednesday after suffering a debilitating stroke. He has since undergone surgery twice to stop bleeding and relieve pressure inside his skull.

Although doctors treating him have not offered a prognosis, outside experts have said the outlook is grim. Aides said they do not expect him to return to the prime minister’s office. Sharon deputy Ehud Olmert is acting prime minister.

The hospital, which initially had translated the prime minister’s condition as “serious,” is now using the word “critical” for the Hebrew word “kasheh.” The Hebrew term used has not changed.

Mor-Yosef said that the brain showed a “slight improvement” over previous scans. But he stressed that did not necessarily mean an improvement in Sharon’s condition.

Sharon underwent emergency surgery Thursday and Friday to stop bleeding in the brain and relieve swelling inside his skull.

His expected departure from the political scene could hurt efforts to revive Mideast peacemaking, which stalled after fighting between Israel and the Palestinians resumed more than five years ago.

His summer withdrawal from the Gaza Strip was a seminal development in Israel’s relations with the Palestinians, and Sharon had broken with his longtime Likud Party in November to sidestep opposition there to his plans for more territorial compromises.

It is far from clear if any of Sharon’s potential successors would have the charisma, credibility and can-do spirit that the prime minister has used to begin carrying out the historic task of drawing Israel’s final borders.

At synagogues throughout Israel on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, worshipers recited a “mi sheberach” for Sharon – a prayer of good wishes. In the course of prayers for the sick, rabbis called out “Ariel, son of Vera.”

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